Play in video games has conventionally proceeded in accordance with commands received from hand-manipulated controls or joysticks or from a computer keyboard. Voice input has been heretofore viewed as an unacceptable substitute for such hand-operated devices because of the complexity involved and because of the time constraints associated with issuing and recognizing spoken commands. By way of comparison, the time required for joystick manipulation is normally in the range of 10-100 milliseconds, or essentially a human reaction/decision time limitation. Voice input requires that same reaction/decision time, plus an additional time interval for speech input and recognition. Voice input time may then total from 100-500 milliseconds, during which time considerable changes in the game situation will typically have occurred. A player's ability to issue voice commands quickly enough for effective play is therefore severely limited.
The present invention obviates the time constraint problems attendant with the use of voice input by providing an interrupt of the game action during the speech input and recognition interval. The present invention thus provides a system in which execution of the game program may be readily controlled in accordance with voice commands.